NEWS

32 books on key global issues to be published OA
through collective funding initiative

Pledge to Open makes Taylor & Francis titles open access at no cost to authors

At the end of a successful second year of its collective funding initiative, Taylor & Francis has announced the publication of 32 new open access (OA) books on key global themes, including children’s welfare, global security, and AI. It has also confirmed that Pledge to Open will run for a third year.

Pledge to Open supports the publication of books that are both free to read and free to publish for their authors, though library collective action. Pledging institutions enable worldwide dissemination of impactful research, which particularly benefits readers in resource-constrained regions and authors with limited OA funding.

Twenty-four institutions and consortia in Australia, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK and USA pledged to support at least one of this year’s collections. Over half of authors who will see their book published OA through Pledge to Open are based in countries outside of Australasia, Europe and North America.

New books to be made OA through Pledge to Open include: Revitalizing the United Nations; Digital Twin and Blockchain for Sustainable Healthcare 5.0; The Foster Family in the Service of the Foster Child; and Smart IoT for Sustainable Development.

Taylor & Francis has also confirmed that Pledge to Open will run for a third year. Institutions are now invited to pledge their support for forthcoming books on the following themes:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Biotechnological solutions
• Climate change
• Global security
• Social movements and activism
• Sustainability in practice
• Wellbeing and mental health

Pledging libraries receive perpetual access to 50 backlist titles for each collection they support, which they can choose from a selection of 1,000 books on related themes.

“We are delighted by the continued support for Pledge to Open in its second year, enabling us to publish even more OA books than in the last round,” said Emily Farrell, VP Academic Commercial Strategy at Taylor & Francis. “It is especially encouraging to see institutions of all sizes supporting the initiative, including smaller teaching colleges, prestigious research-intensive universities and a state-wide library service. Thank you to this year’s pledgers, who are helping to make vital new knowledge available to readers around the globe.”

https://taylorandfrancis.com/